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Donald Macleod and art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon are back in the National Gallery to look at the work of Cosimo Tura, an artist in Ferrara, where Josquin was Maestro di Cappella.

The humanist Cosimo Bartoli described Josquin as the Michelangelo of Music. A master of polyphonic choral writing, Josquin was as widely admired in his own lifetime as posthumously. While Josquin was a dominant force in music, the Franco-Flemish area with which he’s associated, also produced some remarkable painters, who, like Josquin and his fellow composers, exported their style, technical accomplishments and influence across Europe. In a series to mark the 500th anniversary of Josquin’s death, Donald Macleod visits the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square with art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon, to build a picture of Josquin’s music and the places he lived and worked, which also stimulated painters to produce equally outstanding Art. To accompany the series the paintings they discuss can be viewed on the Radio 3 website.

Considering his fame, it’s surprisingly difficult to map Josquin’s life. His birthdate was possibly 1450 or perhaps 1455 and it’s thought he was a choirboy at the collegiate church of St. Géry in Cambrai. Documents show he died in 1521, by which time he was probably in his seventies. He spent his last years as provost of the Collegiate church of Notre Dame in Condé sur l’Escaut, a town near Saint Quentin, right on the border with what’s now Belgium. In between times, Josquin may have had an association with the royal courts of King René in Aix-en Provence and Louis XI of France, before working for the influential Sforza family in Milan and becoming the first maestro di cappella for Ercole d’Este in Ferrara.

The court at Ferrara had a strong reputation for the excellence of its court musicians, and as a leading and highly influential musician, Josquin was highly sought after, but where did art fit in? The paintings Donald and Andrew mention can be seen on the Radio 3 website.

El grillo
The Hilliard Ensemble
Paul Hillier, director

Inviolata, integra et casta es
Orlando Consort

Virgo salutiferi genitrix a 5
Bremen-Weser Renaissance
Manfred Cordes, director

Missa Hercules Dux Ferriae
Sanctus and Benedictus
The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips, director

Praeter rerum serium
Alamire
David Skinner, director

Miserere mei Deus secundum
La Chapelle Royale
Philippe Herreweghe, director

Producer: Johannah Smith